israel and its powerful allies keep silent over syria's claims that israeli jets breached its sovereignty and killed people in a bombing raid on a target near damascus. france says it will soon handover its ante is from its offensive in mali to local troops just as reports surface of the legs atrocities and war crimes committed by the mali is amid a media blackout. one out two in british taxpayers cry foul amid revelations of back door hikes further complicating what some say is an already bloated tax system. and obama's pick for defense secretary goes before the senate had a potentially heated confirmation hearing with a vocal protest coming from biggest rally valby.

it's five pm in moscow you're with are with me and you so now my good to have you with us our top story this hour the arab league have slammed israel for its alleged strikes inside syria with the organization the organization describing it as flagrant aggression and a glaring violation of syria's sovereignty while officials in moscow say that if the attack is confirmed it will be an abuse of the u.n. charter leaders in damascus claim that the deadly bombing raid destroyed a military research center near the capital it follows multiple failed attempts by rebel groups to storm the complex more on that now from our cheese fall asleep. if indeed this israeli military strike inside syria is concerned moscow has condemned it in the strongest possible terms saying that it was unprovoked and it was a strike against a sovereign state that is in violation of international law and is unacceptable now what we understand is that israeli warplanes bombed and this is according to syrian

sources a military research same town outside damascus where at least two sites workers were killed now there are some reports also suggesting that the warplanes bombed a convoy of weapons that were making their way from syria to lebanon allegedly to on his beloved the syrians have denied this although some saying that it might have been a warning from televisions to the syrian president bashar assad not to his but now we are hearing from an unnamed american official that prior to this incident tel aviv had in fact informed washington that it was planning a military attack inside syria there is the opinion that this attack could consolidate military forces inside syria against a common arab enemy namely israel and that it will merely bring them closer together and divert them away from fighting each other when instead to in their forces against israel israel for its side has declined to comment on the whole

incident. from our twenty four seven updates on the reported israeli bombing as well as opinions from inside the mideast check out policy twitter feed one of our latest tweets she says that airstrikes really took place if they really took place i should say would be the first time in decades that israel has launched an attack on another state not in response to military actions and to follow her on twitter. we also spoke to alba you know me as a kiwi editor of part african news wire he says that this is all part of a plan to bring down the syrian government. while it's quite interesting that the israeli government as well as the united states has not officially responded to this provocation against syria it is inevitably a situation in which they are opening up a nother front in the war against the government of bashar al assad part of that strategy of course has been a deployment of patriot missiles in turkey which is also

a nato country on the border with syria the syrian government there has been quite resolute in its campaign against these rebels over the last two years although the rebel organizations many of which are backed by the united states and the other nato countries have caused a lot of disruption and dislocation inside of syria they have not shaken the result of the syrian government to maintain its position of authority inside the country so this is of course is another effort on the part of the backers of these rebels to further weaken and destabilize the government in damascus. fog areas government worries over energy independence doing its best to block the russian finance nuclear power plant after invalidating a national referendum that backed the constitution planned. in mali there is a growing concern over how french and local forces are handling the fight against

islamist namely information is lacking on civilian casualties and mali and troops are now being accused of war crimes they managed to get exclusive footage of their alleged atrocities and spoke to local journalists gonzalo wants about its origins as we continue moving north we find reports of extra judicial killings and evidence of war crimes we have heard of the murder of a few citizens by mali and soldiers in the town of survivor are not only did they kill them they shove their bodies into the drinking water well located in the center of the town making the rest of the population watch rules or hearing of cases where people are being prosecuted for trying to earn a living under the ruling militants sixteen year old adama says he was unknowingly employed as a cook and butler by jihadists and is now being accused of terrorism. after i stopped working as a cook in the town of do when i went to surveyor there i met an old man and i asked him for a drink of water he said that he won't share water with terrorists i said that i

was in a terrorist and i was just thirsty then i was put into prison i am no terrorist i didn't even know that i was working with militants i only realized that through the rumors i started hearing and then when everyone went on to the frontline i was just cooking food for them no one even talked to me i think persecution is also reportedly becoming widespread in the area arabs and said to be persecuted on charges of allegedly collaborating with the militants in the government and the french troops are fighting against our contacts in timbuktu also told us that shops belonging to arabs are being looted. the french abzar retaking the final major city of canal from the islamists say they will soon leave mali handing operations over to government troops a lot of the newest international consultant and former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament says this is a bad idea considering the low discipline and lack of funding in the west african nation what i hear now is how this surprises me i mean first of all the million

army does hold a grudge against the people who are stemmed from the northern part of the country and secondly the soldiers very low paid and have very little armaments and such as a they're not really a regular army in that sense there's only. hardly a state apparatus functioning how can you really just have people and examine what they do you can't you just ground nick underlying that so the only offering you can do correctly is if you think people might be terrorist is hold them and arrest them and detain them what you should not do is say this is kind of actually judicial executions but eternally surprises me that this is going on right now this country needs support yes this country needs are we why is it that this help only comes in the form of military invasions that's a basic question you should we should ask ourselves. and there's also fears of sectarian revenge attacks in mali following the french led military campaign more

on this as well as images from the conflict torn country on our t.v. dot com. the u.s. senate is expected to grill one of president obama's most controversial choices for a key job in his team chuck hagel is likely to be quizzed on everything from relations with israel and the arab world to his view of women in the military as during his confirmation hearing to be the new defense secretary large he's going to teach you can explain why certain political groups are so against his nomination.

chuck hagel has been under attack since his name was floated as president obama's pick for the defense secretary position it would see attack ads on all major u.s. t.v. channels saying what a terrible defense secretary chuck hagel would be also our december and much of january they've been running these ads you know between commercials of beauty products prescription drugs and what so somewhere between those you could catch attack ads like this one secretary of defense chuck hagel president obama says he supports sanctions on iran he voted against the legal voted against labeling iran's revolutionary guard a terrorist group and while president obama says all options are on the table for preventing a nuclear iran cagle says military action is not a viable feasible responsible option president obama or secretary of defense chuck hagel is not a responsible option. that ad was sponsored by the emergency committee for israel

so what did truck hagel do to deserve that as a u.s. senator chuck hagel has been critical of israel's policies he's been critical of the israeli lobby in washington here's what he said the political reality is that the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here i've always argued against some of the dumb things they do because i don't think it's in the interest of israel i just don't think it's smart for israel and of quote among other things chuck hagel dared to say that u.s. interests should trump israeli interests if they conflict he supported direct negotiations with iran and unlike many other politicians here in washington who keep repeating the all options on the table mantra but these publicly they say that the chuck hagel has been straightforward in saying a strike on iran should not be an option and he has also been a proponent of a more even handed u.s. policy with regards to these really palestinian conflict and the u.s. has been anything but even handed on the issue it's also for statements like this

one that he's been under attack take a look this is chuck hagel in two thousand and six the united states will remain committed to defending israel our relationship with israel is a special and historic. but it need not and cannot be at the expense of our arab and muslim relationships. that is an irresponsible and dangerous fault choice some saw president obama's decision to nominate chuck hagel as his message to these really hard liners we actually heard president obama say there is too much war talk going on and maybe nominating chuck hagel is his way of bringing down the tension and not not everybody here in washington likes that message but what's interesting since the beginning of the attack campaign against chuck hagel over these two months or so many of the attackers have sort of withdrawn their objections over chuck hagel nomination some say could be because they received assurances behind closed doors that as defense secretary chuck hagel

is not going to make any drastic moves to really challenge washington's foreign policy orthodoxies four hundred million dollars in debt and ukraine had to ask russia for time to pay find out online how it managed to get so far into the red and how it hopes to get out. and craving for call energy hungry china is burning as much of the black stuff as the rest of the world combined with levels of air pollution in the country skyrocketing that's online for you today. well gary is government is expected to block the russian finance construction of a new nuclear power plant this comes after a national referendum voted in favor of the project the vote however was

invalidated due to a low turnout well gary is allies in europe and the us fear of the project would mean energy dependence on russia and of charo of says authorities did their best to bring down the vote.

trams and trolleybuses come to a standstill and doctors walk out on their wards in greece as after the break we report on a new flurry of protests paralyzing the country as citizens face up to a government bent on still more austerity. plus eric smith says there are many monsters lurking in the dark spots of the world wide web stay with us to find out what the google chairman is so concerned about that's after a break. the first baby steps are joy. folds and bones are not a big deal. but they can cause terrible trauma.

for children can be broken by dare touch. and only the will of life can make. i'm source way. fragile people on are today.

your authority live from moscow now athens has again ground to a halt with public transport workers and doctors joining a twenty four hour walk out over pension costs it comes a day after protesters entered the labor minister's office with police and

demonstrators then clashing in the streets lawyer george cut through galo says the heavy handed response from authorities was intended to send a message. the government has decided to follow up on lucy of zero tolerance as it sais i guess the that is distance to the state to measure us so we have steam the government to take the medicine measures that they are unconstitutional i guess that there isn't strikes and now we have seen the order that were released very violently against a generally peaceful and calm demonstration where only seem the last three or four weeks i complain of propaganda try to convince us that now the worse is becoming that there isn't i don't believe that this is that is exactly because we are following this same set of policies of which thirty minutes of the four three hears has condemned greece. of slow death that this recession of the economy kentucky and

of the economy unfair social measures are both better in season of the population and also attack the socialites i think that as far as what we're following this said to of all this is there's no hope for us britain's government has raised taxes twice as fast as cutting them that's according to a new report putting a damper on david cameron's pledge to create a lower tax country they care so almost three hundred thirty hikes from the ruling coalition and further complicating an already notorious system artie's polly boycott picks up the story. by the end of this parliament the u.k. public will have seen cuts to some one hundred and nineteen various taxes that all sounds great but for a government that's promised to create a lower tax country news that they've actually increased some two hundred ninety nine of the taxes might be somewhat confusing the brits assume going to see an

extra levy on carbon dioxide emissions that means energy bills are going to go up they're also going to see an increase in air passenger duty which means more expensive air travel and then some of the recent changes to u.k. tax law quite simply bizarre revenue and customs recently increased to be eighty for hairdressers renting a chair in a salon and then who can forget the recent. good scandal when. pasty would only be taxed if it was sold at above ambient temperatures critics say the system is simply too chaotic britain has one of the most complex times. increases prices and wages so the time when families are struggling with the rising cost of living. so many tax increases. difficult for them it's clear that the british government is in desperate need of cash to deal with the dismal public

finances which means that by trimming a little bit of tax here and adding more tax burden there by twenty fifteen the u.k. treasury hopes to get an extra eighty four billion pounds in tax compared with the year before they came to power but critics say that once again is the british public which ends up out of pocket. artsy london. six thirty g.m.t. max kaiser and stacey herbert focused on how british authorities are handling the financial crisis and how they've tried to manipulate public perception of the issue . google's eric schmidt has put forward a scary vision of what the internet could become in the near future he says hackers could use the web to launch attacks with drones and that embarrassing information

about you could be stored and used against you at any time or to use your skin off has more. the image of a human future liberated by technology and to hunger teleportation and so on just got a reality those from a guy who knows eric schmidt who is worth one point five billion dollars and the chairman of google voiced his views on in the internet and the dangers that lurk within it warned that as technology becomes cheaper and easier to use cyber terrorists could use the web to run a drone war essential nerd in california could fly a drone strike a target in a remote part of the world in fact schmidt says hackers will be known as cyber terrorists could well become the targets of the same drones but it's not only about potential terrorists states and governments can use cyber technology to isolate and distort the lives and appearance of their critics call this online ethnic cleansing

moreover a cyber identities that your online avatar and social networks could be taken hostage for ransom actually there are already cases of hackers remotely blocking personal computers and demanding cash tolan or feek cyber identities me soon also form a global black market where users will be able to buy an identity the always dreamed of in real life also pointed to the record so much of our lives is stored on servers now any past mistakes will be there for all the world to see typically at the worst possible moment when you're applying for that job mortgage making the marriage proposal or running to become president in fact the lives of everyone will be so public turns will have to teach children about cyber safety before safe sex well these are only predictions but smith's depressing vision for the internet is a reminder to be careful whatever you post and do online may bite you back when you least expect it. now some international news in brief for you this hour

north korea leader kim jong un has reportedly imposed martial law and told his troops to be ready for war as a nuclear test looms the isolated communist state is widely expected to hold its third ever test late next month meanwhile hundreds of protesters in south korea have called for the north to back down from its military threats so has warned pyongyang there will be grave consequences if it goes ahead with a nuclear detonation. iran has said it will install modern centrifuges in the not tons nuclear facility three hundred kilometers south of the capital tehran this could allow the government to enrich nuclear material more quickly and stiff sanctions have previously been imposed on iran by a group of countries including even members and u.s. concern the country's program is for military purposes iran says its nuclear work is peaceful. more than

a hundred people have protested in johannesburg against proposed electricity price hikes by the country's largest energy supplier state company as calm asked in a national energy regulator to allow it to raise prices by more than fifteen percent a year for five years unions are concerned higher bills will badly impact the standard of living of poor people across south africa. egypt's top politicians have reportedly signed a document renounce of widespread violence or protests across the country the agreement came at a meeting attended by leaders of the muslim brotherhood the heads of liberal and secular opposition movements it was called as president morsi cut short his trip to germany over the on going on rest at home without securing any backing from berlin blogger and journalist while scroungers says if morsi had received european support tensions may have spiked further. i think the public good. the public

will be very upset if foreign countries start lending a hand to president mohamed morsi while he is executing these very oppressive measures against his people he has cracked down on a lot of freedoms sidelined editors arrested people and justly and i think that. the sentiment in egypt is basically a rejection of mohamed morsi and the monopoly on power that he that he's he has and and it's not so much as mohamed morsi he's he's viewed here as a puppet to the guidance bureau so unless he starts taking control and actually doing the steps taking the country forward towards a democratic transition i think people will not be pleased otherwise. i'll be back with more news in around thirty minutes time after a short break coming up as our special report crowds out people.

you know i can kind of sort of understand the mindset of an evil dictator i have trouble understanding what is going on or maybe not going on in the minds of the terrified cogs who believe all the propaganda give up all their rights for the losing of safety to coach jerry seinfeld who are these people well maybe some of them may be working at your local school braindead bureaucracy zombies at a pennsylvania school suspended a kindergartner note kindergartner as a terrorist threat because she threatened to shoot another student with a gun that shoots soap bubbles i guess this was all a mix up because the girl she wanted to shoot didn't understand that it was in reference to bubbles and not bullets children in kindergarten can often misunderstand things but the administration of the school seems to be no smarter

than six year olds immediately going into total panic mode guess what this is hardly the first time that something like this has happened remember the kid who pointed a piece of chicken at a teacher and said bang the thing is that the real terrorism of the event is that the mental sleeves of fear propaganda that work at these schools are raising a generation of children to be just like the somebody shoot me with a bubble gun there's just my opinion. that was born dumped a stone mountain.